- Name 7 of 70Thou God Seest Me (El Roi)
- HebrewEl Roi
- In plain wordsThe God who sees me
- Where to find itGenesis 16:13, by a spring on the road to Shur
El Roi is the name a frightened young woman gave to God in the desert. It means "the God who sees," and in the King James Bible it reads Thou God seest me
(Genesis 16:13). It is one of the shortest names of God in Scripture, and it comes from one of the least likely people to speak it.
Who first said it: Hagar at the spring
Hagar was an Egyptian servant who belonged to Sarai, the wife of Abram. Sarai had no children, so she gave Hagar to Abram as a wife so that a child could be born through her (Genesis 16:2 to 3). Hagar did become pregnant, and the household quickly turned bitter. Sarai treated her so harshly that Hagar ran away (Genesis 16:6).
Picture where that left her. She was carrying a baby, she had no family nearby, and she was walking through dry country on the road toward Shur, in the direction of Egypt. Then the Bible says the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness
(Genesis 16:7). This is the first time the Bible uses the phrase the angel of the LORD
.
The angel spoke to her by name and asked two plain questions: where she had come from and where she was going (Genesis 16:8). He told her to go back, and he gave her a promise. Her son would be named Ishmael, which means "God will hear," because the LORD hath heard thy affliction
(Genesis 16:11). Affliction is an old word for deep suffering.
Hagar answered by naming the God who had spoken to her. That is the moment this name was born.
And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
Genesis 16:13
What El Roi means in plain words
El is a short Hebrew word for God. It is the same word you hear in names like El Shaddai and El Elyon. Roi comes from ra'ah, the ordinary Hebrew verb "to see," the one used for seeing a person, a place or a sign. Strong's dictionary, a standard word list for the King James Bible, gives the meaning of roi as sight or seeing. Put the two words together and you get "the God of seeing," or, as Hagar meant it, "the God who sees me."
In the Bible, "seeing" often means more than noticing. When God sees someone in trouble, He usually does something about it. That is what happened here. God did not just watch Hagar from far away. He came to her, spoke to her, and gave her a future for her son.
The second half of the verse is hard to translate, and Bible versions handle it in different ways. The King James reads Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
The simplest way to hear it is as amazement: Hagar could hardly believe she had met the One who had been watching over her all along.
The well that kept the name
People in the Bible often named places after what God did there. Hagar's spring got a name of its own.
Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
Genesis 16:14
Beer means a well. The whole name is usually explained as "the well of the Living One who sees me." The same well appears again years later. When Isaac, the son God had promised to Abraham and Sarah, was waiting for his bride, he came from the way of the well Lahai-roi
(Genesis 24:62). After Abraham died, Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi
(Genesis 25:11). The son of the promise made his home beside the well named by the servant woman.
Key King James verses about the God who sees
Hagar is the only person who uses the words El Roi, but the idea runs all through the Bible. Here are a few verses to read next to Genesis 16:
And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Genesis 21:17
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Proverbs 15:3
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
2 Chronicles 16:9
Genesis 21 is Hagar's second meeting with God, years later, when she and Ishmael were sent away for good and the water ran out. God met her again, and God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water
(Genesis 21:19). The God who saw her the first time had not lost sight of her.
What El Roi means for you today
A lot of people quietly believe they do not count. Maybe you are the student nobody sits with, the worker nobody thanks, or the parent doing everything at home with no one noticing. Hagar knew that feeling well. To the people around her she was useful, not loved.
This name says you are not invisible. God noticed Hagar before she ever prayed, and He found her in the middle of her running, not after she had fixed everything. He knew where she had been and where she was going. He knows the same about you.
There is a second side to the name. If God sees everything, He also sees what we try to hide. That is meant to be good news too, because the One who sees the hidden things is the same One who came looking for Hagar to help her. And once you know you are seen, you can start seeing the people others walk past.
- Read Genesis 16 and Genesis 21 side by side this week.
- Think of one person who feels overlooked, and let them know you noticed.
- When you pray, say the words Hagar said:
Thou God seest me
.
El Roi is name 7 of the 70 in the book. If you want to go on from here, the next name is El Shaddai, Almighty God, and the full list is on the names of God in the Bible page.
